The 2010-11 BCCA Championship is being contested in postal and web-server sections. Results are now beginning to come in, the postal section results to date are, Championship: Sutton draws with Eastoe, Sutton draws with McMahon. Candidates A: Grayland 2-0 Picken, Thompson 2-0 Picken. There are four web-server sections, Candidates C is led by Stephen Clark, Terry Taylor and Phillip Beckett on 4½pts, In Candidates D David Coyne leads with an excellent 6½pts/7 and has a good chance of qualifying for the 2011-12 Championship section.

In Reserves D the lead is shared by Dr. M.R. Wilson and Sandy Smyth with perhaps Dr. Wilson holding the advantage although a key game could be Wilson v Smyth. Reserves E is currently led by Lawrence Rhodes with an unbeaten 9/9, the key game is Tibbert v Rhodes with Peter needing to win if he is to remain in contention for 1st place. That wraps up the current state of play in the 2010-11 Championship but we can expect to see results starting to arrive in large numbers from here.

Web-server links

• Candidates C BCCA 2010/11 Candidates C
• Candidates D BCCA 2010/11 Candidates D
• Reserves D BCCA 2010/11 Reserves D
• Reserves E BCCA 2010/11 Reserves E

The Selected Openings tournaments feature a variety of opportunities to play from a set position. The tournament is now managed by Dave Grobler who has kindly sent me details of the latest tournaments. These feature an excellent range of starting positions including a main theme plus some gambits and counter-gambits. The main theme is a Modern Queens Gambit Main Line with first moves being 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 c5.

Other tournaments feature the Sicilian – Portsmouth Gambit, the Max Lange, the Urusov Gambit and the Chatard-Alekhine Attack. The Counter Gambit tournaments feature the Winawer Counter Gambit, the Henning Schara, the Adelaide Counter – Gambit and the Bellon Gambit.

SOT Main Theme

• Queens Indian – Modern Main Line: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 c5

Gambit Tournaments

• Sicilian – Portsmouth Gambit: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.b4
• Max Lange: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e5
• Urusov Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Bb4 +
• Chatard -Alekhine Attack: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 !?

Counter-Gambits

• Winawer Counter – Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5
• Henning – Schara: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd4 cxd4
• Adelaide Counter – Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 f5
• Bellon Gambit: 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 b5

The BCCA ‘William Mason Championship’ has attracted an excellent entry of 64 players who will compete in 10 sections comprising of the Championship section, 4 Candidates sections and 5 Reserves sections. Games will be played by web-server, post or email, the web-server sections are Candidates C & D, Reserves D & E.  Play starts on October 1st or immediately upon receipt of the pairing notice, the adjudication date is July 31st 2011. Those competing this season are,

Championship Section: L T Ellis, K W McLauglin, R J Braunton, A Sutton, J R Etherington, F McMahon, L K G Eastoe, T S Brotherton, Dr J S Hill, I C Gould.

Candidates A: S J Grayland, A Reed, S W Thompsom, J D M Tymms, R D Picken, S E Cramner
Candidates B: R Harriman, D J Finnie, J.M.V Rashleigh, R N Dixon, R J Burridge, G Coleman
Candidates C: M J Blake, P Beckett, T Taylor, S L Clark, A Balshaw, A J Ling
Candidates D: F Clough, D J Grobler, A Cannon, A Gardner, D Coyne, I J Mason

Reserves A: S Hollingworth, D K Toye, D Elwood, J L Fuller, S P Denton, A Copsey
Reserves B: D G Woodruff, M K Cockerill, A Lindop, P M Dickenson, P Hulse, P Phillips
Reserves C: Dr F Raafat, M E Hardwick, A D J Smith, J Thornton, M Farrar, J Redwood
Reserves D: Dr M Wilson, M M Kohler, S A Smyth, D Richardson, B A Wood, D Roberts
Reserves D: P H Tibbert, R E Rough, L Rhodes, A.W.J.Tanner, D.C. Gosling, C Neil

The premier event of the British Correspondence Chess season starts on the 5th October 2010 with an adjudication date of August 12th 2011. Players are able to make an early start on their games as tournament pairings are now published on the ICCF web-server where the games are to be played.  Austin Lockwood and Julian Corfield, the current British Champions, are defending their titles in a 15 player Championship section, 11 players contest the Candidates section whilst a further 10 players compete in the Reserves section.

Links to the tournament tables

• British Championship
• BCCC Candidates
• BCCC Reserves

The four titled players taking part are all competing in the Championship section,

• Senior International Master Ian M. Pheby
• Senior International MasterJohn Anderson
• International Master Julian Corfield
• International Master Bill Lumley

Recent History

The 2009-10 British Championship was shared by Austin Lockwood and IM Julian Corfield with 10/14, the performance of Lockwood was exceptional with no losses sustained whilst Corfield recorded one loss with a French Defence played against Jo Wharrier.

The 2008-09 British Championship was played ‘In Memoriam’ of BCCA stalwart John Allain who was an official of the BCCA (British Correspondence Chess Association) for almost 40 years. He simultaneously occupied the key positions of President and General Secretary of the Association and is recognised as one of the most important figures in the 104 year history of the BCCA. His contribution to Correspondence Chess was enormous.  This tournament was won outright by Robert J. Wakefield followed closely by Dr. Gordon R. Evans and Harvey D. Williamson.

The 2007-08 British Championship was shared by three players, Oliver Lightowlers,  Freddy Bush and Sidney Shaw, the first 7 players were within 1/2 a point of each other.  The 2006-07 British Championship was the first to be played on the ICCF  web-server and was a shared affair with Bill Lumley and Harvey D. Williamson sharing the Championship narrowly from Keith Kitson and Oliver Lightowlers who were just 1/2pt behind.

The final results for the 2009-10 season are known, the top 6 places were taken by (1) P. Terry, (2) A. Reed, (3) M. Mullinger, (4) R. Bradney, (5) A.D. Cannon and (6) S.L. Clark.

BCCA Member IM Julian Corfield is the joint winner of the British Correspondence Chess Championship.  The British Federation for Correspondence Chess have confirmed the result which is shared with Austin Lockwood.  The current tournament table may be viewed here – http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=19551